13 Facts About Space Food, According to NASA

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In celebration of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft making it to Pluto, we thought it’d be perfect to give you the DL, thanks to thesavory.com and NASA, on how astronauts actually survive out there in space.

1. Astronauts eat the same food as we do on Earth.

Photo courtesy of thesavory.com

You may think that these amazing people eat some sort of vitamin-infused, anti-gravity specialty food, but I’m here to tell you they eat mac and cheese, just like us college kids.

2. Processed, high sodium and sugary foods keep well in outer space.

3. All the food is kept in air-tight packaging.

Photo courtesy of thesavory.com

The food is stored in what’s called retort packaging, which is a laminated foil container designed to hold up in high-temperatures during sterilization. It seems like a struggle to open and I don’t know about you, but I’d be pretty tired of this after 3 days…

4. There are 203 different things on the menu.

Photo courtesy of thesavory.com

A lot of thought went into this menu to ensure astronauts stay healthy and don’t waste too much time meal prepping. At least they have some variety up there.

5. All the food packages have Velcro on them.

Photo courtesy of thesavory.com

I have a feeling it’d be pretty annoying if every time you went to take a bite of your food, it floated away from you. Three cheers for Velcro.

7. Every 6 months, 9 “bonus containers” are sent to the spacecraft.

Photo courtesy of thesavory.com

After spending half a year in orbit, supplies are sent to the astronauts. They get to choose from fresh produce, some of their favorite meals and, if they’re lucky, packaged treats from their families.

8. Astronauts don’t go through any special pre-dieting regimen before going to space.

Photo courtesy of thesavory.com

There is no pre-flight diet that astronauts need to follow. All they have to do is stay healthy. That doesn’t sound too hard, right?

11. Astronauts have a special place in their hearts, or mouths, for spicy food.

Photo courtesy of huffingtonpost.com

Up in space, people’s tongues don’t make enough saliva for their tastebuds to work as well as they would on Earth, that’s why astronauts love the strength of flavor that comes from spicy food. They can taste againnn.

12. Technology is allowing NASA to work on growing fresh fruit and veggies in space.

Photo courtesy of thesavory.com

Even though work needs to be done in order for astronauts to grow food in space, it’s awesome to know that it’ll be happening sometime in the near future. Mama didn’t tell you to eat your greens for nothin’.

13. All packaging has instructions and ingredients written in both English and Russian.